Kansas City Essentials

March 20, 2019 / EVERYDAY LIVING

SPRING SHELF REFRESH IN THE KITCHEN

Happy first day of Spring. If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know I love decorating our kitchen shelves. My husband built and stained them and they are absolutely one of my favorite things about our kitchen.

For Spring, I wanted to go back to a pink and white color scheme with a few other items popped through out. I couldn’t wait to take down my holiday decorations and start adding Spring.

When I decorate my kitchen shelves I always think about incorporating my favorite elements into the shelves. Like cookbooks, favorite bowls, cake stands, and some sort of fun items. I don’t take them too seriously, but at the same time, I want them to make sense and be functional for our everyday use.

Some of my favorite cookbooks to use are Healthyish, Home Baked, Eat Beautiful , and The Clean Plate. Plus, I love to use my colored latte bowls from Anthropologie. It takes me about a week or two before I am finally happy with the end result. I will literally decorate them and then stare at them for a few weeks replacing things here and there before I am done. A few fun items I like to incorporate are this recipe tin, cake stand, and this french press.

March 18, 2019 / EVERYDAY LIVING

FAVORITE NEUTRALS TO PACK FOR VACATION

When I found out I was going with Nathan to California, I decided to just pack neutrals since most of my Spring and Summer clothes are packed away in the upstairs closet. I didn’t have time to order anything fun to take with me, so I opted for my basics instead.

I knew the weather would be a little chilly in the early mornings and evenings but nice and sunny during the rest of the day. During the day I was pretty much on my own just lounging around, but at night we would be able to go out for dinners.

I decided on four pairs of jeans: one black, one white, and two light colored denim. I took three jackets: a blazer, leather jacket, and jean jacket that I also wore on the plane. For my tops I went with: three black (mix of short and long sleeve), one white sweater, a grey wrap, two white ( both short sleeve), and about 6 pairs of shoes. I did a mix of sandals to wear walking during the day, a pair of sneakers to workout in, and a pair for going to dinner. I managed to only take one handbag although I also bought this one while I was there.

This is probably the first time on a vacation that I’ve really only packed neutrals and nothing trendy or specifically for vacation. I can honestly say it made packing a lot easier and it helped with putting outfits together each day. I only had a specific amount so I had to make sure they mixed and matched with each other. This might become my new way to pack for trips.

This is probably the first time on a vacation that I've really only packed neutrals and nothing trendy or specifically for vacation. I can honestly say it made packing a lot easier and it helped with putting outfits together each day. I only had a specific amount so I had to make sure they mixed and matched with each other.

March 2, 2019 / Blog, ESSENTIAL OILS

OUR JOURNEY WITH ESSENTIAL OILS

When London was born she had very bad Eczema all over with a heavy emphasis on the back of her legs and arms. First, I started using over the counter lotions because I had no idea what I was doing. When it didn’t clear up after some time I decided to take her to the doctor to see if there were other options. She also has a tree nut allergy and they say Eczema and allergies go hand in hand. The doctor gave me a prescription for a compounding lotion to use on her patches. After some time of using the lotion I noticed a part of her skin on the back of her leg that looked like it had been bleached, it’s still there to this day. I immediately stopped using the lotion and was talking to a friend one day about the situation. She asked if I had ever used essential oils before and I said I hadn’t but I’d be willing to try anything at this point.

That’s where our journey with essential oils really began. We used them on and off for a few years but it wasn’t until last year that we started using them for basically everything. We had some health issues in our family and that’s when I decided it was time to really try to be intentional about the products we use on a daily basis: the products we put on our body, what we put in our mouth, and what we use to clean our house. Slowly we started switching out chemicals in exchange for Young Living non toxic cleaning products, switching out our shower gels and shampoos for more conscious friendly products that aren’t full of chemicals. On a side note, did you know that the European Union has banned 1400 chemicals in the product formulas of personal care products and restricted the levels of over 250 more in such products. The United States has only partially banned 30 to date.

Needless to say I felt it was time to make a change for our health. This hasn’t happened over night obviously because that would first of all be too expensive to change everything out and too overwhelming. We change it out as we go; when we run out of dish soap, then I replace it with Young Living, when we run out of hand soap, I replaced it with Young Living. It’s step by step but at least it’s a step in the right direction. So, why did we decide to stick with Young Living? Young Living has an unmatched Seed to Seal process which you can read more about here. This means that they do everything possible to make sure the oils are 100% pure and essential with no fillers or synthetics of any kind. We use the oils for some many supporting things: sleep support, immune support, stress support, energy, focus, and so much more. Are they intended to treat disease or replace your doctor? Absolutely not, they are plant based support that are non toxic, and at this point in our lives they are working for us. If you’re interested you can read more here about how to get started with essential oils. I would love to help you on this journey of wellness, there’s nothing I love more than educating and talking with people about the oils.

December 12, 2018 / Blog, Holiday

HOSTING A COOKIE DECORATING PARTY

Usually every Christmas I host a cookie swap party for a few of my friends but this year London asked if she could have some friends over to decorate cookies, so I decided to swap out the adult party for the kid party. It ended up being such a fun afternoon that we all talked about how it should become a yearly tradition. And, I absolutely love to entertain so I am all for the idea of making it a yearly get together.
Bake the cookies in advance- One cold Saturday London and I spent in the kitchen baking all the sugar cookies that the girls would decorate. London is really into baking right now so any chance I can get her in the kitchen she loves to join. Plus, it’s such a great way to teach her about measurements and I think it helps her appreciate food a little better. I highly suggest baking the cookies in advance if you can. This way it puts less stress on you to bake everything the day of the party. I just froze the ones we baked and took them out of the freezer the day of the party to soften up a bit. I knew the theme I wanted right away for the party was classic santa and all red and white. I found this cute red striped tablecloth at Target in the gift wrap section and knew it was perfect as the centerpiece and then I actually put kraft paper down on the table itself so the girls could get as messy as they wanted and I wouldn’t have to worry about the wood table. I visited the Target dollar section quite a bit before the party and picked up the most darling Santa plates that I set out for each girl along with a Santa spatula to decorate with. I also went to Hobby Lobby where I picked up white aprons for each girl to use and take with them after the party but you could also find these on Amazon as well. I wanted to make sure each girl had the same amount of sprinkles, same amount of icing, and same amount of cookies so I put everything together for them before they started decorating and had it all ready to go on each of the tables. I also bought these brown kraft food trays and put a scoop of red and green icing in each one and put some cookie cutters out on the table for decoration. For the moms I made this really fun and festive Champagne drink and a cheese platter. At the end of the party each of the girls wrapped up their cookies and were able to take home their aprons, plate, and spatula if they wanted. It was such a fun afternoon and definitely got everyone in the holiday spirit. I can’t wait to do it again next year.

November 22, 2018 / Blog

THE CYBER SALES GUIDE TO KNOW

The biggest shopping day of the year is finally here, Black Friday is up and ready to go. I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite shops and items they have on sale. My mom and I usually love to go out shopping this day, we go out early, get coffee, and head to a few of our favorite stores mostly to browse but it’s always fun to see what’s on sale. If you’re looking for some great basics and even if you’re looking for something fun like these Madewell mules that I picked up, this is the perfect weekend to do just that. My sweater and shoes are also on sale for 40% off, this is one of my most favorite sweaters of the season, it’s so soft and cozy and comes in several fun colors.

MADEWELL | 25% off site-wide with code DEALWITHIT

J CREW | 40% off site-wide with code TOGETHER

MANGO | 30% off site-wide with code BLACK18

BANANA REPUBLIC | 50% off site-wide, discount automatically applied

SERENA & LILY | 25% off site-wide with code CELEBRATE

November 20, 2018 / OUTFITS, STYLE

AFTER 5 YEARS I FOUND A PAIR OF TALL RIDING BOOTS

For the past 5 years I have endllessly tried to find a pair of tall Cognac riding boots that I love and want to wear all the time. Each year I’ve ordered a pair or two only to send them back for one reason or another. Usually, they are too tall and uncomfortable, they are too wide around the calf, the leather slouches at the bottom near my ankles, or the color isn’t what I am wanting. This year, I went on the hunt again for a pair of boots and surprisingly found some. I looked at these Tory Burch boots for weeks trying to decide if I wanted to pull the trigger or not and then Shopbop had a sale. The boots ended up being 25% off so I decided to go ahead and try them and they are exactly what I’ve been searching for all this time. I love the color and the heel height of the boot plus they are snug enough to my leg and don’t have that weird leather crinkle at the bottom toward the ankle. This will be a great week to purchase some boots if you’ve been on the lookout with all the black Friday sales taking place. I just noticed these boots are on sale now as well at Nordstrom.